Why the Climate Crisis is Making Our Insects Run for the Hills
With temperatures rising and pressure on biodiversity growing, insects vital to our ecosystems are not only moving north and south, but up. Around the world, different species are shifting their habitats upwards, with potentially catastrophic results for our ecosystems.
Bumblebees in the Pyrenees have moved upwards on average by more than a metre a year, with some species making significantly greater journeys. Moths on Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu have followed suit.
All of this makes them a useful indicator of the speed of global heating and ecological impacts at higher altitudes – often biodiversity hotspots and havens for endemic species.